It is proposed to take No. a7 - motion re establishment of standing committee of selection; No. b7 - motion re membership of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges; and No. c7 - motion re draft final report of the Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform, to adjourn at 3.30 p.m. today, if not previously concluded.

It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that Nos. a7 and b7 shall be decided without debate and the following arrangements shall apply in relation to No. c7: the speech of a Minister or Minister of State and of each member and substitute member of the Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform, who shall be called upon in alphabetical order, shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case; and such members may share their time; the speech of each other Member called upon shall not exceed ten minutes in each case; and such Members may share their time; and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes.

There are two proposals to be put to the House today. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. a7 and b7 agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. c7 agreed?

It is not agreed. It seems a little bizarre that we are speaking about an era of democratic reform but the amount of time being allowed today for non-members of the committee is less than half an hour. We have been largely excluded from the debate about these issues in recent weeks. This week we have seen, quite obviously, the silencing during Leaders' Questions of a large part of the Opposition by not having this slot. There is a real desire on our side of the House to see this matter concluded early but giving ten minute slots in half an hour today to all of those of us who are not members of the committee does not do this. It is not genuine and I strongly object to it. Can we extend the discussion today to take account of this or cut the time allocated to committee members?

Certainly the intention is to see that every Member who wants to participate in the debate has the opportunity to do so.

The debate will adjourn today, so provided there are speakers who want to participate, it will continue next Tuesday. There is no limit.

That is not really the point. The issue is there is a real desire to get the Dáil up and running in a proper way. There is no clarity on our side of the House about how groupings will be formed and how we will function. We do not want this dragging on any longer. It would be far more democratic if the slots of committee members were shortened to allow other Members of the House to have broader participation or if we extended the time of the discussion today.

Given the work all of the members of various groups and parties and individuals have put into this, I suggest we simply extend by two hours today's debate regardless of the time available next week so everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

I thank the Deputy for that helpful suggestion.

I have no difficulty extending the time. We clearly want every Member of the House to have an opportunity to participate. The list of speakers is not that long at present but no doubt this will change. If it continues and we extend the debate by two hours today, there will still be an opportunity to continue the debate on Tuesday.

Is Deputy Daly happy with this arrangement?

An extension of two hours today would be great. That is perfect.

Can I take it, therefore, that the proposal for dealing with No. c7 is now agreed? Agreed.